Life Drawing 2 Portfolio/ Self Portrait Ideas

Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31355812@N02/

All right. Well, I really have not been doing much as far as this blog, but here is my portfolio/midterm/reflection for Life Drawing 2 so far.
So far this semester, I have learned much more about the features of the face, skull and cranium. Learning the head from the inside out has really helped me visualize the entire object of the head, and lets me see everything I am drawing, and why certain parts are the way they are, for instance, the cheeks always have that 'apple' feel to them because of the bone and muscle structure underneath them. I really enjoy drawing the skull itself, and feel like that is one of my strengths, especially in the line qualities I can get throughout all the various planes of the face bones cranium. I definitely feel that one of my major weaknesses is rushing my drawings. I felt much better about the drawings that I slowed myself down on and really looked at. The lines I got on those slower ones I think definitely look richer and have better qualities. Yet, I tend to rush through many of them just to get a full view of what I am drawing.
The one thing I would really like to learn before the semester is over is some focus on the ribcage. Drawing the ribcage was one of my favorite parts of Life Drawing 1, and I would really like to spend as much time on getting that right as we did on the skull and head.

Onto my ideas/research for my second self portrait.
The idea behind mine is to show that I am from Wisconsin, and that I live there, and I love it. A main form of inspiration came from years of listening to bands and musicians from Wisconsin. The three that I have listened to the most would be Cedarwell, a friend's band from Sheboygan, The Daredevil Christopher Wright, and Bon Iver, both from Eau Claire. All of these bands I highly recommend listening to. Great stuff. Anyways, When I listen to these bands, and when I see them play live, I can feel Wisconsin in there music. I can relate to a lot of the images they sing and write about. A focus on this would have to be Wisconsin winters. They always seem to bring me down, and they are incredibly harsh and long. But it is also that mood shift that serves as a huge inspiration to all of us. We are all adjusting to the change in weather, and it is something we all go through together.
That is how I want to deal with my self portrait. I want people to see and say "that guy is definitely from Wisconsin." I want people from Wisconsin to look at and say things like, "i've been there!," and "I know how that guy feels!" So as far as research goes, I have constantly been listening to that music, and writing down words for the images I get through their songwriting. I've also brainstormed lists of words and images I think of when I think about Wisconsin. I have a folder of images saved, some of my own, and some that I have found that help me describe Wisconsin. Some ideas that I have so far have to do with large amounts of cheese, beer, hunting clothes and cows.